Best Kitchen Appliances

For the latest kitchen appliances, you could hopscotch from store to store along the open-air electronics mall otherwise known as 14th Street -- or just head for the Cellar at Macy's, where everything is under one 40,000-square-foot roof, from Krups coffeemakers and Cuisinart food processors to motorized shoe polishers and attachable jet spas, even electric toothbrushes. And remember the fringe benefits of department-store shopping: great return policies, the chance to earn incentives on your store card, special home sales, and salespeople who acknowledge your existence.

On the other hand, you should also add AB Drimmers to your list. This no-frills, family-run business in the heart of Midwood is probably best known among the nesting cognoscenti for the Viking ranges and Sub-Zero refrigerators it sells to the swells on Park Avenue and Central Park West. But it's also packed with smaller appliances like brushed-metal GE microwaves, Oster blenders, and DeLonghi espresso machines. The folks who work the floor know more about this stuff -- a lot more -- than you; they'll even tell you what not to buy. Best of all, Drimmers's prices put some of its bigger-name Manhattan counterparts to shame -- so you can splurge on that ultraluxe, self-cleaning cappuccino machine after all.